Calls are growing louder for a shark cull in New South Wales. But like in Western Australia, which infamously experimented with culling last year, a NSW cull would harm sharks while failing to protect people.

Although frightening, the footage of Mick Fanning at Jeffreys Bay is a reminder that sharks are present in the oceans, and that the vast majority of interactions between people and sharks end without fatality or injury.

You didn’t need a onesie to get hot under the collar about sharks in 2014.
AAP Image/Theron KirkmanDecember 29, 2014

Want a single word to sum up environmental affairs in 2014? Let’s go with “heated”. The year began with the realisation that 2013 was Australia’s hottest ever (and yes, it’s because of us), and ended with…

Western Australia has killed two great white sharks after a surfer was seriously injured last week.
Sharkdiver.com/Wikimedia CommonsOctober 7, 2014

When I used to tell people that I did my PhD on the politics of shark attacks, they would ask, “Is there a politics to shark attacks?” Nobody asks that any more. Now they just say, “Oh, like in Western…

The shark cull that ran for three months off Perth and the Southwest now looks certain to be ended.
AAP Image/Sea ShepherdSeptember 12, 2014